Narrative and style in Ezel Akay's films

Analysing a director's stylistic approach requires a formal study of their films, aiming to identify and highlight unique stylistic decisions. A film's formal system is shaped by the director's preferences for "narrative" and "style" components. Exploring these elements allows for a detailed examination of a film's structural and narrative features. This study seeks to investigate the stylistic attributes of Ezel Akay. To achieve this, the specific narrative and stylistic choices in Leyla Everlasting (2020) and Osman Sekiz (2022) are analysed in depth, with the goal of understanding how these elements interact to create a cohesive formal system. The study explores the structuring of narrative components and highlights the significant stylistic features that define Akay's work, ultimately aiming to articulate the unique characteristics of his directorial style. Ezel Akay describes himself as a fabulist storyteller whose works are distinguished by unique stylistic decisions, particularly in mise-en-scène and editing techniques. His films were assessed using the stylistic analysis framework of David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, with each visual and auditory element examined in detail. The findings reveal that Akay constructs an innovative narrative strategy by modifying narrative and stylistic features to produce an alienation effect.